Rick Santorum gave a full-throated endorsement of profiling air travelers, including on the basis of ethnicity and religion, in Tuesday night’s debate.

“We should be trying to find the bomber, not the bomb,” Santorum said, likening the measure to extra-legal steps taken by President Lincoln during the civil war. “We haven’t had this type of threat that we have in the homeland.”

Asked specifically if he was endorsing ethnic profiling, Santorum said he wants to profile “the folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes. Obviously Muslims would be someone you’d look at.” He added that he wouldn’t “exclusively” profile Muslim Americans.

Ron Paul jumped in to object: “That’s digging a hole for us. What if they [terrorists] look like Timothy McVeigh?”